In a sign of shifting digital habits, Wikipedia—the world’s largest free online encyclopedia—is experiencing a noticeable dip in traffic as AI-generated search summaries increasingly dominate the way people find information online.

According to a recent blog post by Marshall Miller of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia’s pageviews have dropped by 8% over the past few months compared to the same period in 2024. The decline, Miller explains, is largely due to the rise of generative AI in search engines like Google and Bing, which now display instant summaries—often based on Wikipedia’s content—directly on search results pages.

“We believe these declines reflect the impact of generative AI and social media on how people seek information,” Miller wrote. “Search engines are providing answers directly to searchers, often using Wikipedia content.”

Google’s AI Overviews and similar tools by other companies use web crawlers—bots that scrape data from websites—to compile concise, human-like summaries for users. While this offers quick answers, it also means fewer people are clicking through to original sources like Wikipedia.

The Wikimedia team found that much of the “unusually high” traffic reported earlier this year came from bots designed to mimic human activity, not real visitors. This pattern highlights how AI systems and automated scrapers are altering how traffic is measured and distributed across the web.

In addition to AI, younger audiences are increasingly turning to social video platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts to get their information. These platforms emphasize short, visually engaging content rather than long-form articles, pulling attention further away from traditional information hubs like Wikipedia.

Industry analysts say that Wikipedia’s situation mirrors a broader challenge for publishers and content creators. Gerry Murray, a research director at IDC, emphasized that media organizations must adapt to this new AI-driven environment.

“The new reality is that conversational AI does not refer users to websites,” Murray said. “Publishers need to find new ways to protect and monetize their content.”

Recent studies back up these concerns. A Pew Research Center report from July 2025 found that users were less likely to click on links when AI-generated summaries appeared at the top of Google’s search results. Given that Google.com is the most visited website in the world, even a small shift in user behavior can have massive ripple effects across the internet.

Miller urged companies using Wikipedia’s content—such as search engines, chatbots, and AI systems—to direct more traffic back to the source.

“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content,” Miller warned. “And fewer donors may support this work.”

As AI becomes the default interface for online information, platforms like Wikipedia face an existential question: Can the open web survive when AI does the searching for us?
For now, the encyclopedia that helped define the internet age must find new ways to stay visible—and sustainable—in a world where AI intermediates nearly every click.